19 killed in tourist air balloon crash in Egypt

Author: Nehal El-Sherif

   Luxor, Egypt (dpa) - A hot air balloon carrying tourists crashed in the southern Egyptian town of Luxor on Tuesday, killing 19 people, officials said.

   Most of the victims were foreign tourists, including nine from Hong Kong. The others are from Japan, France, Hungary and Britain. One Egyptian tour guide was also among the dead.

   Officials said the death toll reached 19 in the afternoon after a British national died of his wounds in hospital.

   In London, Thomas Cook said that two Britons died in the accident and a third died later in hospital. A fourth Briton is still hospitalized.

   The balloon caught fire after gas was released from a hose that was broken or disconnected. The gas tanks exploded about 300 metres above the ground, a tour guide in the city told dpa.

   Witnesses in Dabaaya area heard a blast then saw flames as the balloon crashed in sugar cane plantations west of the city.

   The pilot survived with burns.

   Luxor governor, Ezzat Saad, suspended all hot air balloon activities after the crash.

   Air balloon trips are popular in Luxor, which officials say is home to 70 per cent of Egypt's monuments.

   In 2009, 16 people were injured when a balloon crashed on the west bank of the river Nile during a tour of Luxor. 

   Tourism used to account for around nine per cent of Egypt's gross domestic product before the 2011 uprising that forced Hosny Mubarak to resign and brought in an Islamist-led government.

   Regular protests and clashes over the past two years have largely affected the sector.

   About 11.5 million tourists visited the country in 2012, compared to 14.7 million in 2010, according to official data.

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